Turn words into deeds, end gender violence | Your [Special] PES Group newsletter

Women’s rights and gender equality go beyond borders. Whilst women around the world experience different challenges that are particular to their context, there are also common challenges of representation, participation and guaranteeing their fundamental rights. Progressive local and regional leaders in Europe put gender equality at the top of the political agenda and strengthen the global feminist movement.

They are fighting for a feminist Europe by giving a voice, tools and platform for women, by putting forward specific women’s rights policies and by ensuring equal representation in their organisations. Yet, much more needs to be done and there are concrete actions that cities and regions can take to improve the level of safety for women and girls.

Scroll down to take a look at the best practices from progressive local and regional leaders to end all forms of gender violence 👇👇👇

♀️ ⛔️ International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women

On the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, our President Christophe Rouillon and Vice-President Concha Andreu, join their voices to stress the need to prevent, reject and condemn all acts of violence against women and girls at the local and regional level ⤵️

💪 🇪🇸 La Rioja region at the forefront to end gender violence

Local and regional authorities have a role to play in raising awareness and educating boys and men to share public spaces with girls and women without harassing, threatening or aggressing them. La Rioja has launched many initiatives to eradicate gender-based violence in its communities, such as targeted training to teach young adults and boys to respect girls and women and combat harassment and gender-based violence. ➡️ Find out more about their inspiring initiatives on the ground. ​ 

👭🧑‍🤝‍🧑 ‘Join the fam’: a Progressive Local Story ❤️

Join the fam, a local campaign against gender-based harassment and sexual violence launched by PES Group member and Minister-President Rudi Vervoort and Secretary of State for Equal Opportunities Nawal Ben Hamou. It focuses on the essential role of witnesses and aims to make known the 5D method: Distract, Delegate, Document, Lead and Dialogue. It’s a unique concept allowing the target audience to adopt a point of view of openness and solidarity. Fight with us, join the fam!

🙌 Binding targets to improve gender balance on company boards in Europe

The glass ceiling preventing women from accessing top positions in companies has been shattered. The European Parliament has just adopted a EU law for gender equality on company boards. The Women on Boards Directive negotiated by Socialists MEPs Evelyn Regner and Lara Wolters, introduces an open and transparent procedure to ensure a minimum of 40% of women in non-executive boards of EU companies by 2026. ➡️ All you need to know

✍️ Dear men, close the gender pay gap.

PES Women has launched a campaign to raise awareness on the fact that female workers in Europe still earn on average 13% less than men. The reasons behind the pay gap are broad: blatant pay discrimination, women take on more unpaid work, more leave to take care of others, there is horizontal and vertical segregation of women and men in the workspace, and more. This affects not only their pay but also pensions later in life. Find out more about this campaign ➡️

What kept us busy in November?

📣 Youth for Europe, Europe for Youth

To contribute to the European Year of Youth, we held our external Group meeting in Florence to discuss a progressive vision for the future of young people in Europe. Local and regional progressive leaders showcased inspiring local and regional youth projects which have made concrete improvements to the lives of the young people they represent. ➡️ Take a look at some good practices and main political message here

🌍 COP 27: cities and regions are key to move from goals to actions

President Vasco Alves Cordeiro and our members Alison Gilliland together with Roby Biwer, Luca Menesini and Kata Tüttő, pointed out that we can overcome the climate and energy crises only with the involvement and the expertise of regions and cities. They are the ones translating the European Green Deal and the Paris Agreement objectives into actions on the ground. Implementing these green initiatives means delivering adaptation and mitigation solutions.

What’s next?

Last Plenary session of the year! 

The European Committee of the Regions will meet next week for the last plenary session of the year. Find out more ➡️ and stay tuned on our social media channels for the debates on the food and energy crises and the Charter of Youth!